The Best Games for Casual Horror Game Fans

As can be seen in PCWorld’s feature on the 20 most terrifying video games, many players love games with gore, jump scares, and enemies that chase you in the dark.

Horror games have been around since the 1980s, with the release of Sweet Home, and then in the 1990s, with Resident Evil really catapulting the genre into being a mainstream success. With so many horror games available, it can be difficult for new fans of the genre to know where to start. Casual fans may not have the time to play through a franchise that has been around for decades, but there are some titles that are better for those who have much less time to play.

Until Dawn

PS4-exclusive game Until Dawn is a hugely fun horror game, as reported by IGN. Developer Supermassive Games had worked on some party games, as well as DLC for PlayStation-exclusive series LittleBigPlanet, so many were hugely surprised when it released a horror game that was received so well.

The game stars a group of friends who go to a guest lodge and are pursued by an unknown threat. Until Dawn plays like a slasher movie, with players making big and small decisions that can have varying and often surprising implications for how the story plays out. Because Until Dawn is a new IP, it makes it a great game to get started for those who don’t know much about the genre

Tales of Darkness

The Tales of Darkness games are a series of Magical Vegas slots that use horror themes such as vampires, mythical creatures and gothic symbols. There are three Tales of Darkness games: Tales of Darkness: Lunar Eclipse, where players hunt down vampires on the reels, Tales of Darkness: Break of Dawn, and Tales of Darkness: Full Moon. These slot games all have some sort of horror theme, including the likes of full moons and werewolves, both of which are an archetypal theme in many horror films.

Dead Space

Dead Space is a series created by Visceral Games, a studio that was owned by EA but later closed down. In the three Dead Space titles, players take on the role of an engineer in space who takes down alien creatures called necromorphs. The main character isn’t a normal action hero as his weapons are mostly made out of mining tools, but this is what made the game scarier for some.

As a shooter and a horror game, Dead Space is a great series for players who don’t know much about horror but have played many shooter games. A Den of Geek article about the franchise reveals that one of the developers of the series has an idea for Dead Space 4, but it’s unclear if that will happen.

While it can be difficult to find horror games for casual players, developers who have enjoyed these famous franchises are always coming up with new ideas. More horror series means more ways for casual gamers to play without having to learn so much about a setting or story.